Mandatory volunteering: a Conservative oxymoron

Despite promises of hands-off government, Harris' reach extends into many sectors

By: Pat Daley

  The last government I would have expected to meddle in people's lives is the one run by Mike Harris in Ontario. After all, in 1995 the Harris Conservatives won by campaigning against things like affirmative action - AKA job quotas - rent controls, and other measures that they believe interfere with individual freedoms.
  What a surprise the last five years have been, then, to see how much this government actively proscribes the roles and activities of individuals and institutions where they think they can get away with it. But, as they said in last year's election platform, leadership means "doing what it takes to reach our goals."
 

Isn't the point of volunteering - which thousands of young people do - to give willingly of your self?

  The most recent example is the decree that teachers will be required to supervise extracurricular activities, which have always been voluntary. That means they don't get paid for doing it.
  This trend to make voluntary activities mandatory started with workfare - a move that was unquestionably popular with many voters. But it doesn't work. Rather than being flexible enough to allow municipalities to set up workfare in a way that meets local needs - something of a clarion call for Conservatives when it comes to things like child care and junior kindergarten - Community and Social Services Minister John Baird has set mandatory quotas for workfare participation. He's also giving some money, like $5,000 to help people receiving welfare in the Thunder Bay area to turn their current volunteer activities into workfare placements. Does this make sense?
  Another mandatory program that has popular appeal on the surface is the requirement for students to perform community service as part of the new high school curriculum. Too bad the same thing is also meted out as sentences to offenders young and old. Isn't the point of volunteering - which thousands of young people do - to give willingly of your self?
  Some burbles of protest are beginning to come from the Conservatives' own supporters - like the people who couldn't renew their drivers' licences because they were disputing toll charges from the private company that runs the province's one pay-as-you-go highway. The mandatory vehicle emissions testing program, Drive Clean, is also causing grumbles about the way the tests are run.
  A lot of the residents, employees, and councillors in municipalities that are being forced to amalgamate are not very happy either.
  If this government had a motto, it would be: "Do it, or we'll do it for you."
  With some exceptions, of course. Here's a tip for teachers who face the possibility of being assigned to mandatory extracurricular activities: try wearing a stethoscope around your neck.
  In their 1999 election platform, Blueprint - a quick read of which turns up five different uses of the word "mandatory" - the Conservatives were not willing to tell doctors what to do even though there are serious shortages of physicians in some areas of the province. Instead, it says, "You can't force someone to work where they don't want to, but we can offer some powerful incentives."
  Would that be incentives like getting fired? Or being barred for life from billing OHIP? No. The Conservatives are offering free tuition.

Pat Daley is a freelance writer and editor in Athlone in Simcoe County, Ontario.

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